LATEST ADDITIONS

The S&V InterviewAudio Video News
Where Is Home Entertainment Heading?
Bob Ankosko  |  Jan 04, 2018
15 Minutes with Astra Insights’ Shawn DuBravac

Stop for a moment and think back to home entertainment 10 years ago. You were starting to build a library of Blu-ray titles, thankful that HD had finally made its way to disc, but 4K at home was a technology of the future and streaming was still a curiosity. Netflix was a hugely successful DVD mail-order company with a billion discs delivered but could see the writing on the wall when it started offering movies on demand over the internet in February 2007. Today, streaming is commonplace and home audio and video have reached unprecedented levels of quality, raising the question of what comes next? Looking ahead to the future, we reached out to Dr. Shawn DuBravac, founder of the Washington, DC-based consultancy Astra Insights, former chief economist for the Consumer Technology Association, and author of the New York Times Best Seller (Regnery, 2015). A well-regarded futurist and trendcaster, DuBravac writes frequently about technology with a focus on deciphering disruptive shifts.

Continue Reading »
Ask S&V
Can My Receiver Upscale 5.1-Channel Soundtracks?
Al Griffin  |  Jan 04, 2018
Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q I have my Pioneer Elite SC-LX901 AV receiver connected to a 7.1 speaker system. When I press the SURR button on the remote, the receiver’s front-panel display shows all 7.1 speakers lit up and ready for action, but no sound comes out of the two Surround Back speakers. Do you have to watch a disc with a 7.1-channel soundtrack to get 7.1-channel sound, or can my receiver upscale a 5.1 soundtrack to a 7.1 format? The SC-LX901 is a Dolby Atmos-capable receiver, so I’d expect it to upscale 5.1 soundtracks for 7.1 output.—B. Hinson

Continue Reading »
Audio Video News
Netflix Catches Up to Cable TV
SV Staff  |  Jan 04, 2018
The number of Americans who subscribe to cable TV is now the same as the number who subscribe to Netflix, according to a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC).
Continue Reading »
CES 2018Audio Video News
LG Previews 2018 TV Technology
SV Staff  |  Jan 04, 2018
LG has announced details of the ThinQ artificial intelligence (AI) and image processing at the heart of the 2018 OLED and “Super UHD” LCD smart TVs it will showcase at CES 2018, which opens in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
Continue Reading »
Audio Video News
AV Industry Mourns the Passing of Audio Veteran Joe Richter
SV Staff  |  Jan 03, 2018
The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) has announced the passing of audio champion, Kenwood veteran, and former CTA board member Joe Richter.
Continue Reading »
Bookshelf Speaker ReviewsDolby Atmos Speaker ReviewsSubwoofer ReviewsSurround Sound System Reviews
Focal Sib Evo Dolby Atmos 5.1.2 Speaker System Review
Daniel Kumin  |  Jan 03, 2018

Sib Evo Dolby Atmos 5.1.2 Speaker System
Performance
Build Quality
Value

Cub Evo Subwoofer
Performance
Features
Build Quality
Value
PRICE $1,299

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Excellent sound quality
Great subwoofer/satellite integration
Plays louder, cleaner than some similarly sized systems
Atmos on board
Minus
Spring-loaded push connectors can be irritating
No prepackaged 5.1.4-channel option

THE VERDICT
A high-performing, moderately compact, one-carton speaker solution for serious home theater—with Atmos.

Focal, the French loudspeaker maker—the French loudspeaker maker (there are others, but really, name one)—is best known on these shores for the Utopia series of haute-highend ultra-towers, which, cresting at something like $185,000 for a pair, step well over what I think of as the Che Guevara line. (That’s the line across which, following the revolution, anyone owning a pair can count on a very long vacation at state expense in a re-education camp.)

Continue Reading »
Audio Video News
Smart Home Heavyweight Control4 Acquires Ihiji
SV Staff  |  Jan 03, 2018
Control4, a leader in smart home controls systems, today announced its acquisition of Ihiji, a company specializing in technology that enables home tech integrators to service connected homes remotely over the internet.
Continue Reading »
Audio Video News
LG Turns to China to Secure OLED Future
SV Staff  |  Jan 03, 2018
LG is turning to the world’s factory — China — to help secure its future as the standard bearer of OLED.
Continue Reading »
The S&V Interview
Kim Simmonds & Savoy Brown Master That Fine Blues Rock Feelin’
Mike Mettler  |  Jan 02, 2018  |  First Published: Jan 03, 2018
Photo: Jim Summaria

British blues-rock pioneers Savoy Brown continue to fly the flag quite mightily on their current album, Witchy Feelin’. Kim Simmonds, their bandleader/guitarist/vocalist for over 52 years and counting, got on the line to discuss the importance of incorporating hooks and riffs together in songs, what he specifically listens for in order to garner creative inspiration, and why he can never relax as an artist.

Continue Reading »
Audio Video News
Sound & Vision Tech Tidbits January 2018
SV Staff  |  Jan 02, 2018
Amazon’s New Fire TV is a cube-shaped dongle that brings Ultra HD to a middling price point of $70. Does it speak Alexa? Of course!...

Comcast Is Upping the cost of its Broadcast TV and Regional Sports Network services by $3.50 to $14.50 a month. These very charges have attracted a class-action consumer lawsuit claiming Comcast “secretly and repeatedly” increased them and employees “explicitly lie” by calling them government-related fees and taxes...

Continue Reading »

Pages

X